Comatose
by Venice11
Summary: Sequel to Out of the Lion's Den.   Part Seven, Final Update! Arthur & Eames are kidnapped by criminals hoping to use their talents in the dream world to awaken their boss from a coma.  Can Cobb get to them in time?
1. Chapter 1

Part 1

Cobb sat across the table from a slim wiry man, absentmindedly flicking through a few documents in front of him. He was seated in a dingy empty restaurant; his nice suit woefully out of place, thought it was where the man requested they meet. He suspected maybe it was one of their many business 'ventures'.

"I honestly can't in good consciousness take this job." He announced, sliding the papers across the table, all business.

"Don't you even want to hear what we are offering for payment?" The man asked, surprised by Cobb's immediate refusal.

"No, frankly I don't. We deal with extracting ideas, and that's it. I'm not even sure what you're asking us to do is even possible."

"But I was told you were the best."

"I am the best, but I'm not putting my team through such an unnecessary risk. While I am sympathetic to your situation, Mr. Russo, it would be far too dangerous to navigate the mind of a man in a coma, let alone try to wake him up." He attempted to delicately tiptoe around the fact that he also knew the Russo twins to be bat-shit insane, and shuddered inwardly at what disturbing reality the other twin had dreamed for himself after two months of being comatose.

"Can I trust you to think it over, then?" Mr. Russo asked, a slight edge to his voice. Cobb stood up and leaned across the table to shake his hand.

"I regretfully decline. Good luck, Mr. Russo." And he strode out of the restaurant, not looking back.

Arthur pulled the sleek black car up and Cobb got into the passenger seat, looking out the window as they pulled away from the aging buildings.

"How did it go?" Arthur inquired, breaking his reverie.

"Not good. He wanted us to go into the mind of Marcus Russo."

"Marcus 'Marky' Russo?" Arthur laughed, sneaking a look at Cobb while he drove. "Got thrown out of a third floor widow by rival thugs, Marky Russo?" Cobb nodded. "What's the other twin's name again? Tony?"

"Thomas." Cobb answered, "Turn left at the next light." Arthur switched lanes and made the yellow with ease. His driving had the same innate elegance that the younger man seemingly always embodied.

Spotting the unfamiliar hotel up ahead, he pulled into the valet, and handed his keys to a younger man in a bright red vest. Cobb followed, making sure to grab the sleek silver suitcase that had been tucked under the seat.

"We can stay here a few days until I locate another job." Cobb suggested, and Arthur nodded silently. Checking in under their assumed names they parted ways at their adjoining hotel rooms. Arthur opened the blinds and looked out at the city lights. He had been so hopeful that they would have a job to work on tonight. Being idle drove him crazy, and while Cobb kept himself occupied by researching potential job offers, he was also just a quieter simpler man.

Arthur noticed that while he always had to keep himself busy and occupied on a task, Cobb could be perfectly content to spend quiet days doing not much at all. Stretching, he shrugged out of his jacket and wandered over to the hotel desk where they kept most of their pamphlets on things to do around the city. Seeing one of a bar, he smiled to himself and picked up the phone.

"Why would you want that?" Cobb asked, sceptical.

"I just want to see how he's doing, is all. Grab something to eat maybe." Arthur replied. He knew better than to ask Cobb if he wanted to do anything that night, but if Eames was still in town doing that job other job he had been working on...Cobb read out to him the Brit's cell phone number and Arthur wrote it on a hotel napkin.

"Just be sure to stay by your cell, Arthur, we may have to leave suddenly."

"Sure thing." Arthur replied and hung up.

Eames couldn't say for sure he had been expecting a call from them. He honestly had felt rather disappointed that they hadn't asked him to join the team. He snorted to himself at the thought of them as the Three Musketeers and flipped open his cell.

"Arthur, darling!" He answered with delight. "Oh I always have time for you, mate...A bar, you say...? Silly Arthur, you had me at hello!" Hanging up he grinned to himself as he pulled on a mismatched suit jacket and headed out the door.

"What sort of job are you involved in now, if you don't mind me asking." The Brit asked the younger man as they drank their respective drinks. A half eaten salad sat in front of Arthur, and Eames took a monstrous bite of a cheese-laden hamburger.

"We don't have a job yet, though Cobb is looking." Arthur replied, pausing to take a drink out of his gin and tonic.

"Then why do you have a tail?" Eames asked sceptically. "You don't have to save my feelings about not inviting me along on this one you know." Eames put on a face of mock hurt, though Arthur thought for a moment he saw a flicker of real rejection cross it briefly.

"I promise we're not doing a job, maybe the tail's after you." Arthur suggested, using his peripheral vision to scan what he could of the crowded pub. Nobody caught his attention as being overly suspicious.

"Well, there's only one way to find out, pet. We can split up and see who he follows!" The liquor had made Eames overconfident. "Let's take a walk, shall we?"

Arthur's face showed disbelief at his brazen friend's attitude. "That sounds like a terrible idea." He replied, taking another sip of his drink. "Are you in some kind of trouble, Eames? Do you owe somebody money or something?"

"I can never say with 100% certainty that I'm not, Arthur, though it's always best to take care of these things sooner rather than later." Eames slapped forty dollars onto their table, and patting his mouth with a napkin in a surprisingly sophisticated way he turned around and strode purposefully out of the pub. Arthur scrambled to his feet and followed after the retreating figure and caught up to him outside, nervously looking over his shoulder. He fell in step beside the bigger man and decided from now on it would be compulsory for him to carry his gun, whether he was on a job or not.

"Did you drive here?" Eames asked but Arthur shook his head no. Responsible to a fault, he knew he would be drinking and had decided to make the short walk on foot. He knew without asking that Eames had walked, he couldn't remember ever seeing the man drive.

"Well it's a lovely night for a stroll, darling, so we might as well enjoy the evening walk as we are certainly not going to lead that man back to either of our houses." Eames picked up his pace and Arthur half jogged to catch up. Seeing an alleyway, Eames ducked quickly into it and Arthur followed suit, their shoes making little to no noise as they walked quietly towards the other street it led to. Sneaking a look behind them, they noticed the silhouette of the man who had indeed followed them. He had picked up his pace, so they wordlessly lost all pretences and broke into a run. They heard the man shout something out as they ran full sprint down a deserted street, but couldn't quite catch it.

Eames, the faster runner turned left first and Arthur scrambled to keep up until he lost sight of him down a second alleyway. Rounding the corner, he slowed down and heard a grunt of pain to his right. Sneaking up around the corner he saw an unidentified man on the ground holding his nose curled up on the dirty alley floor, while Eames stood over him.

"Who are you, and why are you following me?" Eames shouted, standing threateningly over the man. Arthur took a confident step forward, curious to see what gambling debt collector from Eames shoddy past had come after him now. He froze when he felt a cold sharp object prick against his back.

"Tell your friend to back off." The voice hissed in his ear, and Arthur slowly began to reach his right hand into his pocket to reach his cell phone.

"Ah ah ah," the man grabbed Arthur's hair in a bunch and he felt the cold sharp metal of a knife press against his throat. He gave up reaching for his phone and instead looked to Eames for a hint of what to do next.

"Shit." Eames replied, taking the sight in. The unidentified man stood up from the alleyway floor, and delicately touched his nose, which was clearly broken.

"Let him go." Eames warned. "You're after me." The man with the knife laughed.

"OH, Eames, I'm after both of you! I'm just surprised I got a two for one deal! You both came **highly** recommended from your last employer."

The silent man with the broken nose took a swing at Eames that clocked him right in the side of the head. To his credit, the Brit didn't go down after the first hit, but the second one which landed square on his temple sent him sprawled dazed to the ground.

Arthur struggled with the man holding him, hating to watch his friend get hurt like that, but the knife pressed harder against Arthur's neck, and he quickly stopped.

"So tell me how to get into contact with Cobb." The man hissed.


	2. Chapter 2

Just wanted to thank Blushing Cherry and Feathered Filly for offering such insightful sweet reviews of my stories! It's definitely hard writing fics that aren't romantic themed as that seems to be what everyone wants!

**Part 2**

Arthur's limbs protested at their unfair treatment, arms wrenched and tied tightly behind him. Unable to see past a rough scratchy blindfold he tried to make sense of his surroundings but all he could tell he was on his side, hands bound behind him in some sort of vehicle. Tentatively reaching out with his right foot, he tried to probe around and locate the suspiciously silent Eames. A sharp blow in the shin made him hiss in pain and he pulled his leg back towards himself for safety.

"Don't move or so help me I will knock you out." A voice threatened. Arthur stayed silent, and to say he was concerned for his and his friend's health was an understatement.

Suddenly rough hands manhandled him and flipped him onto his back, searching his pockets. Arthur grimaced as his hands were now painfully behind him and he sucked in his breath trying not to cry out. The rough hands located what they searched for, and he could hear the familiar beeps the keys of his phone made as the stranger went though his contacts. Settling on a number, he could faintly hear dialling.

"Cobb, I presume?" The man next to him purred.

"Arthur? Who is this?" He could hear Cobb's suspicious and drowsy voice on the other end.

"Oh, forgive my manners! I believe we've met before, Cobb. Maybe you don't remember me? My name is Mr. Russo and if I'm not mistaken, you were about to begin work on a certain job for me."

"I thought we had agreed that I would be declining your offer, Mr. Russo." Cobb replied, coolly. Arthur knew him well enough to hear the stress breaking through his voice.

"Oh, dear..." Mr. Russo tsked, and Arthur felt the phone pressed against his ear. Before he could say anything to his partner, he let out an involuntary scream as a sharp pain suddenly pierced into his left shoulder. He could feel wetness against his grey pinstriped buiness shirt as Russo pause to trace his knife around the fresh cut making him flinch and attempt to recoil.

"You leave Arthur alone!" A British voice shouted, and through a commotion there was a thud and Eames groaned in pain.

"I certainly prefer knives, Mr. Cobb. I know you're a gun man, but there's just so much more to work with when you have a knife...and a little time." Arthur sucked in his breath wincing in anticipation as he felt the knife press against his shoulder again, but Russo paused as he heard Cobb begin to reply.

"God**dammit**, where do I meet you?"

"Come to the restaurant, I think you'll know which one I mean. I'd also bet Arthur and Eames would appreciate it if you came unarmed."

"I'll be there in ten." Cobb replied, coldly.

"Oh, and Cobb?" Russo interrupted, just as he was about to hang up.

"What."

"I do so appreciate it that you've decided to do this job for me pro-bono. It really means a lot to my brother and I that someone would help us out of the goodness of their heart." The dial tone clicked and Russo laughed heartily at his own bizarre sense of humour.

"Don't worry; you'll be reunited with your friend soon!" He laughed, lightly slapping Arthur on the cheek.

"D'you know you might just be the craziest person I've ever met?" Eames voice called out from across the van.

"Oh you British are always such flatterers!" Russo chuckled, and Arthur felt immense relief once he felt the man move away from him, though he felt his arms might just burst from the sockets any second, and his shoulder felt like it was burning with a white-hot pain.

Cobb hadn't stopped shouting profanities at himself and everything around him since he had hung up his phone. His room certainly was worse for the wear as things lay kicked about in his rage. Grabbing the silver suitcase, his hand paused hovering over the gun on his table. He briefly considered trying to hide it on him, but Russo's threat rang clearly through his ears. Muttering another profanity, he grabbed his key-card and slammed his door shut.

It felt like an eternity before the van jolted to a stop, though realistically Arthur guessed it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. Someone lifted him up by his arm, and he grimaced as they dragged him through a door and down a flight of stairs. Sitting him down on a cold concrete surface, the blindfold was roughly taken off and it took a few moments before Arthur's eyes adjusted to the dim light. He was in a damp dark basement, and he twisted about uncomfortably on the floor.

"Fix his arms." The man he identified as Russo barked, and the second thug handcuffed his left arm to an old metal bar. He didn't even mind the handcuff one bit as his ropes were loosened and he breathed a relative sigh of relief at being able to move his arms out of their cramped position. The thug moved away and soon he heard Eames being guided down somewhat less gracefully, as he was much larger for the thug than Arthur had been.

It wasn't long before Eames was looking down at Arthur cuffed next to him, and they both silently exchanged glances of concern. Arthur wanted only the best for Eames, but secretly and selfishly he was happy the larger Brit was sitting next to him and that he didn't have to face such a perilous situation alone.

"If we get out of here, I think we need to go on a well deserved vacation, darling." Eames whispered, trying to ease the worries that were clearly etched all over the younger man's face. "Somewhere warm, in the Caribbean maybe. Beautiful women draped all about us, exotic rum drinks in our hands as we watch the sunset..."

Arthur cracked a weak smile despite himself at the ludicrous thought of the three of them in bathing suits relaxing by a pool, and Eames was happy he had been successful at distracting the younger man.

"Hurry up, Cobb..." Eames silently pleaded to himself, completely aware of how precarious their situation really was. He had worked for enough questionable characters in his past to be absolutely terrified by the pure volatile madness Russo personified.

He knew Arthur always had complete loyal confidence in the extractor, yet would be lying to himself if he didn't completely share his blind faith. Eames really didn't see how all three of them would be able to make it out of this one intact.

I hope this story works, the first chapter keeps saying that that story is missing, so let's see if this one will post. Reviews are appreciated 3


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

Feathered Filly, Thank you so much for the comment about the page breaks, I didn't realize how differently the stories read/looked from writing them on Microsoft word to being uploaded on ! All the big breaks I'd put between parargraphs were now shortened to one line so that must have been annoying to read!

Cobb's shoes ran lightly down the creaky wooden steps and he emerged into the badly lit basement. Four pairs of wary eyes looked up at him in silence, and he made an effort to keep his face as calm and collected as possible.

"Nice to see you again, Cobb. I trust you're in good health?" Russo asked from his seat at a rickety wooden table.

Cobb snuck a glance at his two teammates seated handcuffed on the floor as he walked confidently towards the table, briefcase in hand. Eames had some bruising around his face though bravely (and somewhat predictably, Cobb thought to himself) kept a rebellious smirk on his face. Arthur had some dried blood on his shirt shoulder and a thin line of dried blood on his neck, but more troublesome to Cobb was that his dark eyes burned with a smouldering intensity that he wasn't happy to see. Keeping calm, cool and collected during situations like these was extremely important and something you could only learn with age. It was a reminder of how much younger Arthur really was than the rest of them, which was something Cobb often forgot due to the professional way the younger man carried himself.

Cobb arrived at the wooden table, and placing the briefcase on top he clicked it open, revealing the assortment of IV's and buttons.

"I can't say I have any experience with this sort of thing, Mr. Cobb-" Russo began.

"Well if you did, you'd know this was impossible, Mr. Russo." Cobb interrupted, frustrated.

"Ah, you didn't say impossible before, Mr. Cobb. I believe you just said it was risky for your team." Russo smiled a thin smile as he looked over at Eames and Arthur. "Now, as you can see, I've made it riskier for your team if you didn't do it. Sound logic, if I've ever heard it. Don't you agree?"

Cobb chose not to respond, and instead seated himself across from the crazy man.

"Which hospital is your brother in? You'll have to arrange for us to be transferred there. My team and I will also need somewhere to work and discuss how best to do this."

"My brother is in the other room. We have a nurse come in to care for him, and all the medical equipment required to keep him going. As you may have heard, he wouldn't be safe in a hospital. The men who did this would certainly have finished the job by now if he were."

"Well, we will still need time to go over this, Mr. Russo. If you'll just give us a day or two to work on the architecture and general research I'm sure it would be in the best interest for everyone involved. Especially for your brother, whose mind must be quite fragile from the coma."

"My brother? My brother? You will **not** be getting any more time, Mr. Cobb. I **won't** have one more night spent with my brother in my head! He's always there, pleading, bothering, eating away at my mind! I haven't slept in months." His eyes flashed with raw insanity, and Cobb leaned back a bit as Russo viciously began digging at the wooden table with his knife, a vicious scowl distorting his calm face.

"I need him out of my head. If he's in his own head, he's out of my head, and it's my head, not his head. My head." He muttered quietly.

"Uh, right well, you've hired the best in the business Mr. Russo." Cobb interrupted this dangerous train of thought with a smooth reassuring smile. "We'll get him out of your head, don't worry." He grinned nervously, seeing for the first time how delicate the other man's mental stability really was. He'd had inkling, but had no idea it was this bad.

A short brawny man emerged from another room with a swollen broken nose, pushing a gurney that held a small thin man that may have once resembled Russo's twin brother. An IV bag dragged behind him, and the feeding tube seemed almost to take over his emaciated face. He deposited it several feet away from where Arthur and Eames were, before positioning himself silently at the stairs.

"Well, Mr. Cobb. Get to it!" Russo said, his face once again calm, showing no signs of the mental breakdown he had seemingly just suffered. Cobb glanced warily at him before grabbing the suitcase and relocating it to the floor just in front of Eames's feet.

"Any ideas?" He crouched down, looking at their two faces. Eames returned his stare incredulously.

"How in God's name are we going to pull this off?" He hissed. "Have you ever even **been** in coma victims head?"

"No, he hasn't. But let's start focussing on something that will actually help us out of this mess." Arthur snapped back, and Eames felt the words sting a bit.

"Well excuse me if I'm not mister optimist right now mate, but next time you get the impulse to call 'your old buddy Eames' up for a couple of drinks, do us both a favour and don't!" Eames retorted bitterly, and instantly regretted them as he saw the hurt flicker in Arthur's eyes as he slumped against the concrete wall.

"Hey, would you two just quit it already?" Cobb glared at them both. "Why would you even think we had time for this?"

Both of the men sulkily stared down at their feet. Tensions were understandably high but Cobb was right, this was counterproductive and they both knew it.

"This man has most likely built a world in his subconscious. It's his new reality. I don't think building anything new for him would do any good." Arthur quietly spoke up.

"Arthur's right." Eames responded, doing his best to extend an olive branch. He was more than a little embarrassed by his outburst. "Though it'll be bloody dangerous to enter his dream world, I don't see any other alternatives."

"I don't see anyone dreaming yet...!" Russo interrupted them from across the room in a sing-song voice.

Exchanging knowing glances, Cobb began to gather up the IV's. Inserting one IV into the comatose man first, he knelt by Eames and Arthur pausing for a moment while they were hidden from Russo's view.

"If anybody has a chance of getting out of this mess, it's the three of us, OK? We can do this!" Cobb looked confidently into the two men's eyes, giving them a nod of assurance.

Eames envied the way Cobb could take control of a situation and keep everybody focussed and calm. Though he hated the idea of where he was, and what he was being forced to do, he had a sneaking suspicion that he would have hated even more to hear through the grapevine that Cobb and Arthur had been killed in a crazy man's basement, all alone, with nobody to help them. A little surprised at himself, he realized it had been a very **very** long time since he'd had anybody in his life he would actually risk his neck for.

"All for one and one for all..." he mumbled drowsily to himself with a hint of a grin on his face as Cobb pressed the button and the three of them sank into a pool of darkness.

Hope you all like it, it's a bit rushed as I have to get to work and there's not much action, but next chapter they'll be in the head of a dangerous coma victim (dun dun dun) ;) So just hold out a little bit longer and excuse this chapter! 3 And thanks again for your great reviews, I appreciate every one of them! :D


	4. Chapter 4

Now I can't even access at all, so hopefully it's back up before I finish this chapter...

A/N:

Liz & Mickerayla sorry for the cliff hangers, I really don't do it on purpose, I swear! Haha I just sit down and write a chapter until my boyfriend wakes up every day and then post it. I don't even know where the story is going until I start writing that chapter, and Liz I'm sure there'll be plenty more angst. ;)

Sylvanelf, feathered filly, blushing cherry and all you other great reviewers, thank you so much for your insightful reviews! 3 you guys are so sweet and awesome!

is really bugging out on this story, so I apologize to everyone trying to read it. I couldn't access the site the whole morning, I'm not sure if that was for everyone or just me.

**Part 4**

The three men found themselves standing in a vast grassy field on the edge of a large city. While everything looked relatively normal, there were small differences that clued Arthur immediately into the fact that this was a dream.

For one, the moon was an oversized crescent; so pale in the cloudless sky that it gave only a faint golden glow. The inky black sky surrounding it didn't hold a single star, and in the opposite direction where there were no city lights the impenetrable darkness seemed to swallow both the land and the sky.

Strange misshapen leafless trees reached their bony branches into the sky with eerie cocoon-like shadows hanging off of them. They way the bundles swayed disturbed him deeply, and he realized it was because they moved back and forth to a non-existent wind.

They began to pick their way through the long grass toward the city, each man silently contemplating the bizarreness of this place.

Eames strayed off their path a bit to inspect one of the bundles closer.

"Well, now we know what will happen to us if we piss off Russo's brother, eh?" He held his sleeve to his mouth against the smell as he looked up at what upon further inspection happened to be several bodies wrapped in cloth, hanging from nooses in the branches.

"Who puts corpses in a tree as a decorative feature to their dream?" Arthur wondered aloud, looking anywhere but their sightless bulging eyes.

"I don't think they're decorative." Cobb replied. "I think he's been here long enough building this world for himself, he's probably done this as a punishment to some of his projections."

"So what you're saying, dear friend is we may be dealing with someone crazier than Russo." Eames summarized, heaving an exasperated sigh.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Arthur replied, as he began to lead the way towards the city lights.

It didn't take long to reach to reach the outskirts of town and they stepped onto a paved road surrounded by tall dark concrete buildings. There were streetlights, though they illuminated next to nothing, and the dark windows looking down at them gave no signs of life.

Heading on, they walked for twenty minutes in silence before they came across a large mansion with light spilling out of the windows and music drifting out into the silent night. Looking at each other they shrugged their shoulders and crept up the driveway.

"Enter. No one is supposed to be out after dark. It's the Prince's rules." A monotone voice startled them, and they make it out to be a guard by the door, almost invisible in the shadows.

Looking warily from one to the other, they walked towards the double doors and the guard opened them to reveal a large foyer with a grand staircase. Past that through some more doors, they see an elegant masque ball going on. Hundreds of projections dressed in their finest clothes were whirling around to the music, elegant masks adorning their faces. Raised somewhat higher than the rest, a man sat broodingly on a large throne like chair surveying his 'subjects'. Next to him, slightly lower, a projection of Russo drinks from a wine glass, his beady dark eyes darting about.

"I was thinking I could forge the identity of Russo to convince his brother to wake up, though we'd have to find a way to distract the other one." Eames suggested to the others.

Cobb nodded slowly in agreement. "That might be our best bet. Arthur and I will separate Russo from his brother, and then Eames can step into his place and try to work on waking him up." Cobb spotted a large cake knife on a nearby table and picking it up, he deftly hid it behind his back.

"Hide behind that door to the left, Cobb. I'll get him to chase me away from all these projections, and when I lead him your way, stab him with your knife. That should get him out of the picture and Eames can take his place." Arthur directed as he picked up a large glass of red wine on a nearby table and took a deep breath.

Nodding at each other they wordlessly split up, and Arthur picked his way through the dancing crowd and strode purposefully towards Russo and his scrawnier brother. They both looked at him with bored eyes, and though it wasn't actually the real Russo, Arthur grinned to himself in satisfaction as he quickly lifted up his wineglass and upended it all over Russo's head.

Spluttering, the vicious projection looked around in disbelief and his brother broke into hysterical laughter. Unsure of how to react, the projections followed suit pointing at the wine drenched man and laughing. His face turned red with rage and humiliation and Russo leapt up while Arthur bolted off, empty wineglass still in hand. The younger man used his thin agile frame to his advantage, able to keep himself several paces in front of Russo as he burst through the doors where Cobb would be waiting, and turned to face his pursuer.

Russo stopped running and advanced slowly, his malicious beady eyes holding Arthur's large brown ones in a glare. Cobb snuck up behind him and stabbed his knife into his enemy's back, twisting it with all his might. An expression of shock crossed Russo's face, and Arthur smashed his wineglass across his head as he sank down to the ground, delighting maybe a little too much in the unnecessary act. Eames emerged from the shadow, now appearing as an extremely convincing replica of the now expired Russo.

Panicking, they suddenly heard footsteps coming towards the door and Cobb grabbed the arms of the dead man and dragged him into a nearby closet. Arthur just managed to shut the door on Cobb and the corpse as the other door opened and Eames and Arthur both looked up in surprise at the scrawnier twin who was flanked by two guards.

"Brother, I came to apologize." He said, smiling softly. The two guards advanced on Arthur and each grabbed one of his arms. "I'll admit, I've been the butt of so many of your jokes, I enjoyed seeing you embarrassed for once. I wasn't being a very good brother though, was I?"

"It's alright, I forgive you!" Eames smiled a bit nervously, clapping his twin on the back.

"No, let me make it up to you! Now I know I made you promise not to hang any more of my subjects...but to make things right between you and I, you can do it again...but just this once!" The prince smiled a humongous grin, as if he had just offered his brother a brand new car. Eames took a nervous step back as Arthur looked up at him in horror, trying to thrash his way out of the iron grip the two guards had on his upper arms.

"Shit shit shit!" Eames thought to himself desperately. He was going to need to use all of his charm to get them out of this one.

"Brother, I know how much you hate me hanging your subjects, and I've played far too many jokes against you to begrudge you just this one. I think we're even." The Prince's face fell as he looked up at Eames.

"You refuse the olive branch I extend to you?" He asked icily. "Our relationship has been strained as of late, I thought this perhaps could bring us back together again." Eames could feel this mission slipping of control no matter how hard he was trying to keep a firm grasp on it.

"Just stab him and be done with it, then. I tire of this subject." The Prince compromised, somewhat annoyed as he retrieving the broken wine stem off the ground and put it into Eames's hands. Eames looked down at the jagged glass in his hand and into Arthur's eyes which had gone blank with the knowledge of what was to come. Pausing, he looked down at the dull instrument in his hand and knew there was no way he could drive a jagged wine glass stem into his friend no matter what the situation.

"What's wrong with you? You're acting so strangely. Do you need me to do it for you?" The Prince inquired, suspiciously.

"No!" Arthur yelled out. "Don't let him do it." He begged, his eyes pleading with Eames.

Cobb sat hunched in the closet, frustrated with what he was hearing. This job had gone so ridiculously wrong he didn't even know where to start. Wrenching the knife out of the back of the man at his feet, he tried to plot how to get Arthur out of that situation with as little pain as possible. He was frustrated at Eames for not just getting it over with, and even more frustrated at himself for being stuck listening to everything in the closet without being able to help.

"Fine, you leave me no choice." The Prince sighed with exasperation, taking the jagged wine stem out of Eames' hands. Arthur started screaming and thrashing as he moved towards him, and Eames looked away in horror.

"Jesus Christ, Eames." Arthur swore, unable to take it any more as he slammed open the closet door. Before anyone could react, he strode forward two steps and swiftly drove the knife into Arthur's side. Glaring at Eames, he took off running down the hall while the two guards gave chase.

Dropping to the floor, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief through the pain as he was sucked down into the darkness and awoke with a sharp gasp back in the basement, safe from the sadistic Prince.

A/N: I'm not too happy with this one, I had a hard time with all the characters for some reason...I promise I'll do better the next one! I think the hardest part was having Eames, who's a strong personality type impersonate Russo who is also a strong personality type. Blegh. Next chapter will be better, guaranteed! : S


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Feathered Filly: I'm glad you liked the coma dream world, I was worried I might have gotten out of hand with describing something not really as relevant. Thank you so much for pointing that name mix up out, haha oops! I went back and fixed it immediately! I never would have noticed it, you know how you can re-read something to double check it so many times and you're hardly even seeing it anymore!

Mickerayla: You're totally right, I've downplayed the shoulder wound waay too much, I just felt maybe I was getting a bit (actually maybe a lot...;) )out of hand with the injuries/angsty stuff so I tried to trim it out of a few places, but it's better to not be inconsistent so I'll definitely keep up with that from now on 3 Your review was very sweet, I really appreciated it! :D

And shoot, rereading it now, I didn't realize that the star paragraph breaks I was putting into the story also aren't showing up? Once again my apologies to everyone!

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**Part 5**

"Hmm. What a bizarre man that was." The Prince mused, a somewhat deranged smile creeping onto his face as he listened to the retreating footsteps of his two guards as they chased Cobb into the depths of the mansion. "I wonder what he meant by 'Eames'?"

Eames did his best to be nonchalant and shrugged his shoulders, moving casually towards the closet door and closing it so the Prince wouldn't see his dead brother's real projection lying dead inside.

"At least he took care of that problematic young man." Eames offered, as he began to lead his 'twin' by the arm back towards the ballroom. He wished Cobb were still there, he literally knew nothing about the man he was impersonating, not even either of their first names. They were supposed have had more time together so he could learn all the small details.

"Yes, I suppose...though I really was looking forward to the two of us bonding while we worked on him together."

"Yes, well...another time, I'm sure." Eames replied, revulsion shuddering through him. Maybe he wasn't just joking about a long vacation after all - At the very least, copious amount of alcohol would be required to forget all these disturbing details that would no doubt haunt him for some time.

He briefly wondered how two such despicable human beings were ever created. Were they born this way, or did some horrific childhood trauma shape them into the warped sinister beings they were now? Eames dispelled his second theory; it would have to have been fifteen lifetimes of horrific trauma to fashion such sadistic twins as these.

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Cobb raced up a flight of stairs, the two heavier men thudding a little ways behind him panting heavily. While he wasn't quite as agile or lean as Arthur was, his solid and fit body was nimble enough to get him out of most situations requiring evasiveness.

He briefly wished he still had that cake knife with him as it would have made this escape a whole lot easier, though he knew there was no way he could have wrenched it out of Arthur's small frame as it lay slumped on the ground shuddering with every laboured breath. They both had had more than enough experience killing each other as painlessly as possible when things went wrong, but the guilt was still there no matter how the situation played out. 

Diving into a bedroom to the left, he saw something that would significantly improve his chances. Skidding to an ungraceful stop in front of the fireplace, he grabbed a poker and turned around just in time to swing it into the first man's face, who crumpled to the floor with no resistance. The second guard who was following closely behind the first threw a heavy punch at Cobb who was slightly off balance from the previous poker-swing and was only just barely able to duck it.

It still managed to graze his shoulder, though it was intended for his face, and it sent him tumbling onto his back. The second man lunged at him, but Cobb saw this coming and he easily drove the poker through the man with the help of his own momentum and body weight. Ripping the poker out, he stabbed the first man through the back just in case, and pulled his suit straight.

Cobb thoughts strayed and he hoped Arthur would be returning soon. He needed him to do what he did best, and that was take all the attention of the projections off of himself while he worked on the more delicate matters at hand. Cobb certainly was concerned about their current predicament, but he knew if he was to save himself and his team, he would have to think five steps ahead of everyone else and try to solve an even larger problem looming on the horizon. It may not even be possible to solve just yet, but he certainly couldn't have two men out there kidnapping his team at will to force him to do jobs for them. Sure they could just leave town afterwards, but these twins had shown themselves to be terrifyingly ruthless and insane and willing to stop at nothing to get their way. The three of them would forever be looking over their shoulders, especially now that Russo and his twin knew the power that could be at their hands with this sort of technology.

His mind had certainly always been good at working out puzzles, creating deceptions and getting people to see things the way he wanted them to, though this was going to take everything he had.

############################

Breathing a sigh of relief, Arthur mentally calmed his nerves and opened his eyes to his actual reality, the basement. While it certainly wasn't ideal, it was about a million times better than getting gutted open by a sharp piece of glass.

Russo looked across the room at him and smiled an ear to ear grin.

"Why hello again, Arthur. How was your little trip into my brother's mind?" He inquired politely. Arthur met his eye contact, but pointedly chose not to answer.

He tried to sit his stiff aching body up against the wall from the slumped position sleeping had left him in, but hissed sharply in pain when he tried to use his right arm to support himself. His left arm dangled uselessly still cuffed to the bar so he slowly navigated himself into a semi-dignified position using his feet.

"Oh, my dear, your poor arm!" Russo cooed, "Are you awake because the mission is complete?" He moved closer and crouched to the left of Arthur, inspecting his shoulder closely.

"No, it means I was killed. You have to send me back in if you want me to complete it." Arthur scowled, irritable at the invasion of personal space.

"Oh, someone's grumpy! I see my brother must have gotten to you then, hmm? I'll bet he did some impressive work on you, though I must take some degree of credit. I did, after all, teach him everything he knows." Russo grinned, piercing blue eyes boring holes into Arthur's dark ones.

"He didn't kill me." Arthur frowned, looking away defiantly. He wished this conversation to be over so he wouldn't have to be alone with this man anymore.

"Hm. Pity. It may have made you better understand the pain I put him through as a child, perhaps you would have had a better knowledge of how his mind works!" Russo replied, taking out his knife and eyeing it as if he were reliving some memories long ago. Arthur chose not to respond to this comment, trying not to encourage or engage in any sort of conversation.

Russo raised the knife to Arthur's eye level, and moved it from side to side as Arthur kept both eyes warily glued to it.

"You remind me of my brother when we were younger, Arthur. I think it may be the eyes." He began to move the knife closer and lightly traced a pattern on his face without breaking the skin. Arthur sucked in a breath and did his best to stay still. "You know it's funny, I think I broke him." Russo giggled. "He used to have such a delightful wide-eyed fear in his eyes, much like yours. He was also the strong silent type, just like you." Russo took the knife away and Arthur breathed a silent sigh of relief as he tried to remain as calm as possible.

"After a certain age his eyes just turned dead, it didn't faze him anymore. A shame, I know." He shrugged. "If you can't wake him up, I suppose it wouldn't be such a big loss. After all, I'd have someone new to play with!"

The eerie smile sent a chill up Arthur's spine and his eyes burned with rage, unable to stand it anymore. He was about to let loose with a few choice words of fury, but Russo pressed the knife against his lips in a shushing gesture.

"My my, you're quick to anger. You make it too easy for me, Arthur!" Russo shook his head. "Still so young. You present yourself as a man, but you're really just a boy in there, aren't you? "

Arthur glowered in response as Russo's hand moved towards the suit case. "Sweet dreams." He murmured as he pressed the button, sending Arthur back to the shared dream.


	6. Chapter 6

Alittlemind: sorry for the confusion, just two guys jumped them.

Liz & Keiri Bradon: haha I have no idea why we like injuring our favourite characters, but it seems to be universal.

Feathered Filly: Aww yeah, he does have puppy eyes! So cute! Just for you, I will try to put in "some good old fashioned whumping of my favorite character, particuliarly if the others are witnesses to that" sometime by the end of the story. 3

Mickerayla: lol ok I will do my best to angst it up for you 3

**Part 6**

Cobb descended back down the stairs he had originally come from, making sure he looked as inconspicuous as possible so as to not draw any more undue attention to himself.

He watched the ballroom of people from the shadows with calculating eyes, noting for the first time that they held no expression on their faces. It was almost as if the subconscious mind they were in had no real knowledge of how to invent differing personality types. It wouldn't surprise Cobb if either of the twins had any concept of relating or empathising with others, which may explain why they had no real misgivings about committing such bizarre acts with no conscience. He tried to remember the term, was it psychopath? He frowned to himself... Arthur would have known.

He spotted Eames seated in the chair that was slightly lower than the Prince's, and while the Prince was going on in an animated fashion, Eames expression seemed to show that he was having a difficult time keeping control of the conversation. Cobb hated how deeply into the deception he already was, as he was essentially working blind. He grimly hoped he was trying to learn as much as possible about the inner workings of his 'twin's mind as his time was already borrowed - He had already probably set off a few alarms earlier, when he had refused to harm Arthur.

Cobb began to make a hasty retreat out of the ballroom. He would just have to let go and trust Eames's discretion to know what to do next, which was actually surprisingly hard for him. He was used to knowing all parts of the plan, usually even more than his other teammates did. He retreated back to the main entrance where he could have space to think things through without those empty eyed soulless dancers sneaking glances at him. They seemed harmless for now, but definitely distracting. He also assumed Arthur would be back soon, and he hoped this would be the best place to find him.

"Enter. No one is supposed to be out after dark. It's the Prince's rules." Cobb heard a familiar voice utter monotonously, muffled behind the door. It opened wide and Cobb swelled with relief when his point man came in, a little out of breath but no worse for wear. It was clear he had run here from where he had woken up again, and Cobb quickly and silently led him up the grand main stairwell where they could discuss a proper plan in private. He noticed Arthur spent a lot of time looking skittishly behind his back and seemed to keep so close to Cobb that he was practically on top of him the entire way up the stairs.

"It didn't hurt too much when I stabbed you, did it?" Cobb asked the unusually silent Arthur, concern wearing through his level voice at his odd behaviour. Arthur gave a sarcastic laugh, not even sure where to begin but turned serious when he saw the worried look on Cobb's face.

"No Cobb it didn't, thank you. Really, I mean it. I know how risky that was for you to do that." He said, solemnly looking down at his feet. "I owe you one."

"You'd have done the same for me." Cobb replied, both of them knowing without an answer that it was the absolute truth.

"Have you been in contact with Eames yet?" Arthur asked, as they darted into the first lavish bedroom they came upon and locked the door behind them. Cobb sighed and ran his hand through his hair, letting his calm collected mask down to show how concerned he really was. This was uncharacteristic, and Arthur braced himself for some troubling news.

"I can't get near him." Cobb replied. "He's been joined at the hip with our mark. We just have to trust he can pick his brain enough to know which angle to work. How about you? Was Russo there when you woke up?"

"He uh..." Arthur laughed nervously, sitting down on the bed, his careful poker face not quite able to hide the distress in his eyes. "He says I remind him of his brother when they were younger, and that if we don't get him back, I'll take his place." The words rushed nervously out all at once and he looked down at his shoes with a forced smile, trying his best to act nonchalant about something that had clearly disturbed him.

Cobb winced at hearing the barely concealed fear in Arthur's voice. Moving closer, he knelt down in front of the younger man's downcast face. "Arthur, look at me." He commanded, waiting until the dark conflicted eyes hesitantly met with his cool reassuring ones.

"He would **literally** have to kill me, and probably Eames before we would ever let that happen to you." He said confidently and deadly seriously. Arthur nodded slowly, his mind still distracted. To say the younger man was emotionally exhausted would be an understatement. It concerned Cobb how Arthur had become Russo's target; he had certainly been chipping away at the younger man's emotional state and delighted in the rises and reactions he got out of him. It certainly would not be an option for Arthur to get killed again; Cobb wouldn't allow him to be alone with that psycho again.

Sighing, yet feeling somewhat relieved by Cobb's reassurance, Arthur rubbed his tired eyes and revealed the other fact he had learned.

"From what I can gather, he used to torture his brother when they were younger. He says he misses the fear that used to be in his eyes. I think from that we can gather that most of the Prince's dysfunction can be attributed to Russo." Arthur could see the wheels begin to turn in the older man's head. "Maybe we can play that against him, get an emotional response from that. I think at the core of it all, at the core of this coma dream, the mark has serious control issues...**Especially** regarding his domineering twin."

Cobb didn't answer, but started pacing back and forth in the room. It was a procedure Arthur easily recognized; it meant his mind was hard at work chipping away at the problem.

"That's very useful." Cobb murmured softly to himself. He stopped his pacing and turned to face Arthur, his eyes quietly burning with resolution. "I don't want to just wake him up, Arthur. I need to find a way to pit them against each other. Get rid of them permanently so we never have to see their faces again."

Arthur nodded slowly in agreement, watching Cobb admiringly. Here was a man who knew every angle of every situation and the best way to work them to his advantage. Without him, they wouldn't stand a chance of getting out of here.

"I'm going to need to get Eames away from Markus, there's no other way around it." Cobb decided. "You need to tell him what you know, and we can figure out our best plan of action together."

Arthur stood up from the bed but Cobb shook his head.

"You just stay here out of sight, Arthur. Markus would recognize you in an instant, and we can't have you die again. Just keep quiet; I'll be back in no more than ten minutes whether I've gotten Eames or not."

Arthur nodded in agreement, but words couldn't describe how relieved he was to be able to sit still for a bit and not be in imminent danger.

"Just watch for my return." Cobb called over his shoulder as he exited the room, and Arthur locked the door behind him.

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Eames was quickly running out of things to say, and what was worse, he hadn't seen Arthur or Cobb in quite some time. He was trying his best to stay professional but was admittedly having a rare moment of doubt with the stakes being so high.

What was worse, the Prince's train of thought was so twisted and perplexing at times that it was becoming nearly impossible to follow coherently. This was doing nobody any good; he decided the best course of action now was to remove himself from the situation, regroup and try to find Arthur or Cobb.

"I think I will be needing some fresh air, brother. Will you wait for me here?" The one thing he had noticed was that the other man was accustomed to following simple commands from his twin.

"Of course, Thomas." The Prince replied, and Eames was pleased he had at least gotten one useful bit of information out of him, his own first name. Walking as quickly as he could without arising suspicion, he exited the creepy room of dancers and began his search for his friends.

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Arthur checked his watch after fifteen minutes had passed, and doubt began to flicker across his mind. The silent room was getting to be too much; he hated not knowing what was going on at the other side of the door. Creeping up to it, he unlocked it and left it ajar. Crouched and peering into the hallway, he felt immediately better. At least he would know if someone was coming.

Several moments more of watching, he heard careful footsteps up the stairs and was relieved to see the familiar sight of Cobb and Eames, though he wished the older man could be out of disguise for a bit, as he never wanted to see Russo's face again. Standing up, slightly cramped from crouching so long he opened the door a bit more and moved back to let them come in.

After they entered, Arthur re-locked the door and sat back on the bed relieved to be in the company of his two friends.

"Tell Eames everything you've learned." Cobb directed, not losing any time.

"Russo told me that he used to torture his other twin, and that he essentially made him as psychotic as he is today. I think you can play that angle against him; Cobb wants our ultimate goal to get both Russo twins out of the picture, so when he gets here we can brainstorm some ideas. " Arthur summarized.

"I see..." Eames paused to reflect. "So we won't even have to worry about focussing on waking Markus' from the coma?"

"Well, I don't know, we haven't gotten to the actual plan yet, though it doesn't seem all that necessary if we want to get both of them out of the picture anyway." Arthur shrugged. Cobb began his familiar routine of pacing while he thought.

"It never ceases to amaze me that Cobb is always one step ahead of everyone, eh Arthur?" Eames moved closer to Arthur and looked down at him seated on the bed.

"Yeah, it's what he does best I guess." Arthur replied hesitantly. Eames sure was laying it on thick tonight.

"How badly do you think he'll take it when he realizes I'm one step ahead of him, though?" He bent down to whisper in his ear.

Arthur frowned and looked up at the older man as a sinking feeling developed in the pit of his stomach.

"I was curious about what it was like in my brother's mind, so I decided to follow you in!" He grinned down at the younger man. "And I'm so glad I did. You all have been very bad, trying to double cross me."

**A/N: Ok ok so that's an unintentional cliff-hanger, but I have to leave it off here as I want to do the next chapter justice and take my time with it. I'm not sure where I'm going to go from here, but hope you liked this one, even though it was kinda all over the place & didn't really have much of an ending.**


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Ok I'm so sorry for the long wait, my boyfriend doesn't know I like to write these things, so trying to write this long chapter was extra hard with this being his two days off. I think this chapter is about three times longer than my other ones, so I hope that more than makes up for it. I'm so thankful to you all for your reviews, so many of you all have reviewed consistently, and I love each and every one of you for it 3

**Part 7**

"Cobb!" Arthur choked out as Russo snatched forward, grabbing him by the tie. Cobb whirled around, face frozen with confusion and shock.

"Russo must have come in after sending me back!" Arthur gasped, as his hands clawed at Russo's arms, trying to disentangle himself from the man's grip.

Cobb looked around frantically for any kind of weapon, but froze when Russo pulled out a rather nasty looking jagged knife and gave him a sadistic grin.

"I would stop that if I were you." He smiled. Cobb stood still, raising his arms in a non-threatening manner. Arthur continued to kick out and thrash against the evil man, who looked down at him with irritation.

"Tell the boy to stop fighting." He commanded. Cobb looked hopelessly at Arthur and took a deep breath.

"Arthur, stop." He grimaced, hating to give the younger man such an order. Arthur scowled at him in frustration, but stopped his thrashing and instead just glowered at everything in his line of sight.

"Where's your third partner?" Russo demanded his smiling face switching to one of dead seriousness.

"If we thought you were him, then I think it's fairly obvious we don't know where he is." Arthur snapped, using an extremely condescending tone of voice. He really couldn't be sicker of this man and the whole nightmare his life had become in general, and frankly he just didn't care anymore.

Russo growled and threw Arthur on the floor landing a vicious kick to his stomach. Arthur curled up and gasped in pain, and Cobb made a move to get closer.

"Stay back!" He shouted, waving the knife around, and once Cobb was standing silently in place again to his satisfaction, he reaffirmed his point by landing a hard kick to Arthur's ribs. Arthur cried out in pain and curled up as small as he could get.

"What do you want, Russo? You kidnap us, you make us do this job for you...this is insane! Just let us go, we don't owe you anything." Cobb's voice was raising, he was losing his cool at having to watch this.

"You owe me **everything**! Through our whole life, all I had was my brother. Then he got taken away from me, and you wouldn't even **try **to help! You wouldn't even **try.** And **THEN** I hear you're plotting against me? Plotting against my brother?" Russo screamed, as he reached down and yanked the prone Arthur off the ground by his tie. Slamming him against the wall, he held his hand against his throat and began to tighten his grip while he kept his eyes glued on Cobb.

Arthur choked and tried desperately to loosen the crazy man's grasp. Finding it impossible, he began instead to kick at his attacker.

"Stop fighting back!" Russo screamed in frustration, and let go briefly to instead land a hard punch to the younger man's jaw. Arthur's head clunked against the wall, and he sank dazed to the ground. Fading out of reality a bit, he heard a scuffle as Cobb leapt towards them and through blurry eyes saw his partner fall to the ground.

"Guards!" He heard Russo's voice screaming, and after a few moments, a group of footfalls running down the hall. Arthur held his head up weakly and tried to spot Cobb through the haze, but his movement only earned him another kick to the ribs, which sent stars flashing in front of his eyes. Two men grabbed an arm each and lifted him up, though the pain in his ribs was excruciating as he was forced to his wobbly feet.

His head began to clear as he was being roughly led down the hallway, and he spotted Cobb behind him with his own two guards. Blood was seeping out of his lower right side and it looked like he had sustained a painful stab. Their eyes locked briefly and Arthur had to look away as the older man's expression verged on hopelessness. Cobb never gave up, and that look in his eyes was something Arthur never wanted to see again. Walking was unbearable enough until he reached the stairwell. Each jolt down the stairs made him wince and he suspected he had some broken ribs. Russo led the macabre parade, gleefully looking back at them every few seconds to drink in their expressions, savouring the situation.

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It hadn't taken Eames long to find his friends once he heard a scream for guards and the sounds of footfalls running up the stairs. He had only managed to search through half of the upstairs bedrooms before the new activity made him cautiously peek his head around the door, worried someone had spotted him.

Heart sinking, he saw the familiar face of Russo practically jumping out of his skin in excitement. Following, there was a hunched over Arthur being supported on both sides, and finally Cobb shuffling along, a little bit of blood trailing on the wooden hallway behind him.

Eames started to softly follow after them as his head began to work carefully through the details. If Russo was here, there would only be that meathead with the broken nose left behind in the basement. It wouldn't do much good for Arthur or him to get back as they were still handcuffed, but maybe if Cobb were killed...

Quietly, he crept behind them from a fair distance; he was going to need to bide his time to wait for the right opportunity to rescue them all.

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It seemed like an eternity to Arthur as he was being half dragged along in excruciating pain before they finally began to make their way through the silent dancers and advance towards the Prince's throne.

"You're back? And you brought me something?" The Prince asked, curiously.

"Yes, brother, I've come to rescue you." Russo said, proudly.

"Rescue me from what?" He said, suspiciously. "We were just sitting here chatting moments before, what's changed?" He asked, baffled.

"Oh, were we now?" Russo grinned, as he reached back and scuffed Arthur's hair playfully. "Your friend must be a better forger than I thought he was!" He laughed at Arthur. "Pity it didn't help you in the end."

"Wait, what's going on? I know I saw that younger man die, it happened just in that other room...I don't understand, this doesn't make any sense." The Prince babbled as he gave Arthur a sceptical eye. His precarious hold on reality was starting to shift.

"I hired these men to save you; they were supposed to wake you up."

"Wake me up from what?" He demanded, frustrated by the lack of answers.

"You had a fall, out of a window. You may not remember. You were in a coma and I'm here to get you out."

"But...no, we've been here together for years, building my kingdom together." The Prince countered.

"You've been in a coma for less than a month, not years. Is his head alright?" Russo looked back at both Arthur and Cobb.

"Time passes more slowly in dreams." Cobb confirmed painfully, sagging a bit at the waist. Russo frowned at that answer and looked back at the two men, another question on his lips.

"So how long have we been here for in real life?" He quizzed.

"Maybe ten to fifteen minutes?" Cobb replied, after it was clear Arthur would prefer to just glare at Russo and not answer. Russo looked around in disbelief; a large grin broke across his face.

"Well that's just amazing! Why would you even bother staying in reality?" Russo asked, looking around at the two pained faces who weren't sharing in his mirth. "Maybe after this we can leave and go into my own dream!" Arthur shuddered involuntarily, and Russo smiled at him "You'd enjoy it, I promise!" He grinned.

"But...no, this can't be a dream, this is real. I don't know what you're trying to pull." The Prince shook his head, looking from one face to another. "Do we just wake up then, if it's a 'so called' dream?"

"No, I'll have to kill you I think. But I promise it'll be alright, you'd wake up again with me." Russo replied, looking around for confirmation. Arthur and Cobb remained silent, refusing to confirm or deny this.

################

Eames was standing a small ways away, hidden in the crowd of dancers and felt a sort of half-formed plan start to hatch in his head. Deciding he had little or no time to spare, he decided this was the best idea he was going to have and barrelled through the crowd.

"Brother!" He yelled, being sure to get the attention of everyone present. He couldn't help to smirk a bit to himself at the expression of shock that was plastered on all of their faces. He so did enjoy being the center of attention sometimes.

"I got here just in time." He stated, walking with the upmost confidence until he was standing by the Prince's side.

"What...?" The prince demanded, staring at disbelief from one to the other.

"That man's an imposter...and a poor one at that. He's trying to take over your kingdom. He was just trying to trick you so you'd let him kill you!" Eames stated, staring into his 'twin's' eyes. The Prince let a flicker of doubt cross them.

"We've been through a lot together, brother, do you think I would ever ask to kill you?" He asked, but still seeing no real response changed his tactic. "You didn't actually believe him, did you?" He scoffed.

"No!" The Prince denied vehemently, their sibling rivalry trumping everything. "Well who are the other men?" He asked.

"Just a clever distraction, they're actually on his team." Eames explained. "That blonde one with the stab wound, he's the real leader of this group." Eames pointed him out. The Prince looked sceptical, but Eames had a card up his sleeve to completely convince him.

"Pass me a knife." He commanded, and his twin handed one over.

"If you kill me, I'll kill you while you're stuck in here." Russo hissed. "Then I'll kill Cobb...but I'll keep Arthur. Would you really do that to him?"

Eames simply ignored him, though he was having a hard time of seeing Arthur hunched over, bloodied and battered next to him.

"To tell it's an imposter, brother, you have to see how he reacts when I try to kill his leader." Eames shouted over his shoulder as he took two purposeful strides towards Cobb.

Seeing where this was going, Russo suddenly began to panic, realization and horror crossing his face.

"No! No, don't let him do that!" Russo screamed, and he started to try to stop Eames.

"Guards, seize that man!" The Prince shouted, now completely convinced Eames was his brother and the other was the imposter.

Eames continued forward and giving an apologetic look to Cobb, he stabbed him quickly in the stomach. Cobb's eyes looked up at him in understanding and they slowly faded away as Eames pulled the knife out and Cobb quickly bled out.

"Kill me, kill me quick!" Russo screeched in panic between the two guards, thrashing out in desperation. "You don't understand what you've done, you idiot!"

The Prince a bit startled by this outburst, looked to Eames for an indication of what to do next.

"Should we kill him, you and I...together?" He asked.

"This traitor doesn't deserve a quick death." He answered. The Prince nodded, but Russo kept his maniacal screeching.

"Ask him any question about our childhood; ask him anything, he's an imposter!"

Getting slightly nervous, and knowing he still had to buy time for Cobb to take out the goon guarding them all, Eames walked over to Russo and punched him has hard as he could in the mouth, savouring every moment of it as the crazy man spat out blood and a tooth. "The first man we killed together was Nathan Rhys, under the overpass, in-" And here Eames punched him again, though the damage was already done.

"Where was it, brother?" The Prince asked, suspicious eyes were now levelled at Eames.

"Oh, well..." Eames stammered.

"See, he doesn't know! It was under the overpass that time we visited Derby on a summer vacation!" A flash of panic crossed the Prince's eyes at the realization that this was the truth and he had made an error in judgement.

"Get him!" He commanded, panicked, and the guards who had been watching Cobb moved in and grabbed Eames before he even had a chance to turn and fight. The knife dropped harmlessly to the ground as Russo shook his arms free of his own guards and glared at them both. His relief was short lived when suddenly his brother's face had a look of bewilderment, and he suddenly dropped motionless to the ground.

"No!" Russo screamed, looking around as the dancers began to slowly disintegrate as if they were made of sand. Russo spotted the knife on the ground where Eames had been forced to drop it, and began to make a break for it.

Through his mind was hazy with pain, Arthur more than anything felt irritated by how slowly Cobb was killing the twins off, but then recalled the obvious fact that time was moving more slowly where they were. Realizing he need to buy Cobb a few more minutes, he wrenched his hands away from his guards who were now disintegrating. Having the advantage of being closer to the knife, he dove on it and protected it with his body. Eames managed to wrench one arm free and grabbed at Russo's shirt, but he tugged free of the grip and jumped on Arthur, a flurry of fists and rage as he tried to reach the knife that would save his life. Rolling about on the ground to avoid the blows, Arthur protected the knife with all he had in him while Eames desperately kicked out at Russo. Suddenly Russo stopped and looked down as he straddled the younger man on his back still lying carefully over the knife.

"You may have bested me tonight, but I die confident of one fact." He grinned his familiar sadistic grin as Arthur scowled up at him. "I've seen the fear in your eyes. I know that even though my physical body may die today, I will always haunt your nightmares. It will be a long, **long** time before you don't look over your shoulder, Arthur." He smirked, suddenly appearing to be at peace with his impending death. Eames finally broke free and landed a kick at Russo's stomach that sent him sprawling on his back. There he lay crumpled, the look of sadistic glee forever frozen on his face.

Eames walked forward and held a hand out to Arthur, who painfully accepted it and slowly attempted to stand up. Crying out in pain at the effort, he was forced to instead stay seated as he held his ribs wincing. Eames took a seat next to him on the ground, taking in the point man's general appearance. His face sported a nasty split lip and black eye, while his hair was all over the place and his vest and tie were wrinkled and torn beyond repair. Once again Eames was struck by how young he looked when everything about his image wasn't meticulously in place.

"I'm sorry you had to go through this, darling-" Eames began, but Arthur shot him an uncharacteristic glare.

"Don't. Just don't, Eames." He said, his eyes glowering sharply at his feet. Sneaking a look up at Eames shocked look, he felt a little badly for his outburst.

"Thanks for your help, though. Cobb's going to be impressed at your quick thinking when we get back." Arthur smiled at him, but it wasn't the familiar smile he usually gave him; there was nothing behind it. No light in his eyes, no emotion at all.

Eames, unsure of what to say next, clapped Arthur on the back in a friendly gesture but felt even worse when Arthur winced at the friendly affection. Sighing, he reclined as he watched the rocks and buildings fall all around them. The shadow of a large slab of rock was the only indication that they would be departing soon, though they never looked up as part of the ceiling crushed them.

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Awake with a gasp, Arthur's eyes darted around in a panic as he cautiously looked at his surroundings. Cobb was unlocking his cuff with a key, and he couldn't believe how long it felt since he had last been here.

Relieved at the newfound freedom, he stretched out his aching left arm and inspected the now dried blood on his right sleeve. The arm still throbbed, but was nothing like the pain he had just experienced.

Cobb, mindful of his injury, helped him up and Arthur looked around suspiciously at the three bodies littering the floor as Cobb moved over to unlock Eames.

Carefully he kicked at all three, gauging for a response of life. Finally satisfied they were all dead, he turned back to look at Cobb and Eames who were watching his behaviour cautiously in silence.

"Let's just get out of here, right?" Eames suggested uneasily, and they all made their way up the stairs.

Eames frowned as he noticed that Arthur made a noticeable point to position himself between the two men throughout the entire building and the long walk home, and began to worry that the little point man would never be the same. Going up the elevator to their respective hotel rooms, Arthur paused in front of his door.

"You uh...you can stay in my room Eames, the bed's a queen size." He offered meekly, and though Cobb had a perfectly nice couch in his suite, Eames sensed it was more than just a polite offer. He didn't think Arthur would be able to spend the night alone and he wordlessly followed him in.

They both got down to their boxers and undershirts and climbed into bed. Eames longed for the last mission where they stayed up all night drinking together to get over the job, but he knew Arthur had gone through something different and he'd give him all the time he needed to get better again.

Cobb opened the door that adjoined their rooms, and peeked his head in to check up on the both of them. Padding softly into the room, he peered over the bed and saw that Arthur appeared to be sleeping. Sitting on the edge, careful not to disturb his young partner, he looked levelly at Eames.

"I wanted to thank you for your quick thinking back there" He said, and Eames shrugged modestly. "I don't know how long it'll be before Arthur wants to work again, but when we do take our next job, I hope we can count on you to join us." He said, essentially offering Eames a job.

Arthur rolled over, not sleeping after all.

"I want to start working immediately." He said, staring up at the two men, ruffled hair sticking every which direction. "I need to be working and distracted."

"I know this has been hard on you, Arthur. If you want to take a break from working with me after all this is said and done, I completely understand." Cobb said guiltily, looking back at him uncertainly. He felt like he had completely let down his younger partner the entire job.

A smile slowly broke across Arthur's tired face as he let that sink in, surprised that Cobb had even considered it.

"What would I do on a break?" Arthur quizzed, "We're almost broke and didn't get paid for this job. I have **no** legal job experience, Cobb. I never even finished school." Arthur looked down and absentmindedly pulled the blankets tighter around him. "I just need to keep busy." He gave a half hearted smile.

Cobb shrugged, feeling somewhat reassured though still a little guilty about the younger man taking a disproportionate amount of abuse on the mission.

"Alright, I'll start looking again tomorrow." Cobb replied warily as he trudged tiredly back out of the room. Arthur cozied back up in the bed and was asleep almost instantly.

Eames laid back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He didn't sleep a wink that entire night though was more than happy to wake Arthur up whenever his face distorted in fear, and nightmares began to take over his peaceful sleep.

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A/N: I'm super sorry if this wasn't as up to snuff as the rest were, haha I think I may have written myself into a corner. I really should have just written the story all at once instead of one chapter at a time but when I do that, I just end up double guessing everything because it's not perfect and then I give up. That might have been part of the problem for this chapter, too, I've just been double guessing everything trying to make it good enough, but yeah. Either way, thank you so much for all of your comments, they kept me going through this story! I literally would have just given up this chapter without all the encouragement. 3 to you all!


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